senators john mccain and jon kyl should be fighting for the 28,000 people who would be affected in arizona. it's not clear if they will. and the list goes on and on. unemployment benefits are vital to the economic security of millions of americans, and the continued recovery of the u.s. economy as a whole. this should not be a bipartisan issue. let's bring in john nichols, washington correspondent for "the nation" magazine. brother nichols, who will be most affected if no deal is reached. not the very reach who can afford to deal with in a very serious fashion. not even the upper middle class. but tell us about those clinging to the bottom of the ladder? >> well, those clinging to the bottom of the ladder are not the most impoverished people in america. they tend to be folks who we know, our sisters, our brothers, our cousins. somebody down the street, who got laid off at the start of this deep, deep recession. and as things started to get better, maybe they lived in a part of america, particularly a rule area, or an older industrialized city, where the economy has just not come back as ra